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Montenegro: Opposition Parties Agree on Constitution

17 09 2007  Podgorica _ Leaders of Montenegro’s opposition parties have signed a joint platform for negotiations with the parliamentary majority to reach a consensus in the run-up to adopting a new Constitution.

According to the platform, approved on Monday, transparent democratic dialogue and compromise are the basis for adopting the new constitution.

“This can be achieved if the parliamentary majority accept some proposed solutions that are different from those in the draft constitution”, says the platform.

The opposition agreed on defining Montenegro as a civil state where sovereignty belongs to the citizens.

They declared that all of Montenegro’s national groups should be listed in the preamble to the constitution, and that it was unacceptable to have Montenegrin enshrined in the document as the only official language. 

Regarding the citizenship issue, the platform says that those who have Montenegrin citizenship, cannot be deprived of it.

At the same time, the opposition calls for recognition of dual nationality: “A citizen of Montenegro should be able to have the citizenship of another state”, the platform says.

The platform calls for the various churches and religious communities to have equal status -- and to be separate from the state.

Observers see several of these proposed provisions as reflecting the concerns of Montenegro's large ethnic Serb community.

The opposition agreed that the constitution should stipulate that parliamentary elections are held within 12 months of the adoption of the constitution.

The platform was signed by members of parliament representing the Serb List, the Movement for Changes, the Socialist People’s Party, the People’s Party, the Democratic Serbian Party, the Bosniak Party, the Albanian Alternative and the Democratic Alliance of Montenegro.

The document was presented to the governing coalition on Monday, whose chief negotiator is to be the vice-president of the Democratic Party of Socialists, Svetozar Marovic.

“We do not see this platform as a take it or leave it document. We want to affirm our support for dialogue”, the president of the Socialist People Party, Srdjan Milic, said after signing the platform.

“The only condition is that all parliamentary parties should support it [the constitution]”, he added.

Parliament began discussing the draft bill in January 2007.

Its committee for constitutional affairs approved that document in late July, and the parliamentary session on the constitution is scheduled for October 1.

If the bill is not adopted by parliament, Montenegro’s electorate will decide about it in a referendum.